Carr Impala Amplifier Owner's Manual

CARR AMPLIFIERS

OWNER’S MANUAL

January 2013

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Impala Instructions

Thank you fo r purchasing a Carr Impala amplifier.
The Impala takes inspiration from a central 1960s workhorse , The Blackfa ce Bassman. We
harnessed the gu t tur a l, clea n vi be then expanded th is stalwart w ith all Tube Reverb, a super
usable Mast er Volume, and The Carr Voice. The result is a new amplifier, ful l of life and
determination – The Im pala.
Please take time to familiarize yourself with t his manual.

Volume – Adjusts the loudness and drive of the amplifier . The Impala has an extended
range volume control and you will find you can sw eep from sweet and clean to very
distorted.

Treble – Varies the top end from dark to bright.
Mid – Varies the midrange freq uencies and is very interactive with the Treble control. For a

60s Americ an tone, set the Mid to the ‘ 68’. The tone becomes more aggressive as you
advance the Mid past 1 o’clock. When t he Mid is set near full, the Tr eble control’s effect is
more subtle.

Bass – Varies the low end from lean to full. To retain clari ty, turn the Bass down at hi ghe r
volumes.

Reverb – Controls the amount of reverb sound from none to deep and lush. The Impala
uses an audio taper pot for reverb. The effect is very subtle till you hit 12 o’clock on the
dial allowi ng great control over the amount of reverb.

Master – The interface between the pre amp and the power amp on the Im pa la . For the
cleanest sou nd, set the Mas ter to Full and set the Volume control low. For thicker clean
tones, set the Master to 11 o’clock and the Volume to 12 o’clo ck. For overdriven tones, set
the Volume to 3 o’clock or higher and set the Master to the desired listening level. Higher
Master settings will bring in more output section overdrive when the Volume is set high.

Standby – Set the am p to Standby (switch baton down) bef ore turning o n the power sw itch
(see On-Off-On below). After 1 minute of warm up, switc h the Standby baton up. The amp
is ready to be played. Using the Standby switch every time the amp is turned on will prolong
tube life. Note: the Impala uses a very large pre amp power supply capacitor – it will take
about 45 seconds for the pre amp to come up to full volume once Standby is in Pla y.

On – Off – On – Selects between two ON positions and the OFF position (middle). The two
ON’s are wired in opposite phase of ea ch other. If you receive a shock from another piec e of
equipment ( a microphone or another a mp) that is n ot properly grounded, or if you hear
static, switching to the opposite O N may solve the problem. This is sometimes called
“switching p ola ri ty ” .

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